Meet Callum,19, from South Wales. Find out how set up his own pet food business, Clydach Farm Group. Part of our Bitesize world of work series.
Callum:
Hi, I'm Callum, I'm 19 years old, and I run a pet food business.
I started my first business when I was 13 in the back garden of my parents' house with two chickens, a cockerel, and a hen. I bred these birds to have offsprings and chicks, which I sold at local markets, and to friends and family.
This is where I really first thought about running a profitable business and how I could earn extra income.
One thing that I did realise is that people only need to buy chickens once in their lifetime, and therefore I needed to find a way to make a recurring revenue stream, where customers would keep coming back to buy more.
This is where decided to start selling chicken feed. For me, understanding nutrition was incredibly important. So I went to the local library to get a book that really taught me how to develop a poultry feed.
So, after our chicken feed was really successful, customers would ask us: "if you can do this for chickens, and you can create such a quality chicken feed, why can't you do this but for my dog?"
Dogs are really important to us because we have dogs at home – I've always been brought up around dogs. And so I thought it was a really fantastic opportunity for us to work on a pet that was really close to our hearts.
A key thing in businesses is not to stay still, and to really continue to evolve and look for new opportunities. Running the business whilst in school was really challenging, but also incredibly rewarding as well. I would respond to customers at weekends and in the evening time, but also send out orders and reply to any queries that were required at that time.
When I was in school, I managed to choose subjects that would really apply to me and my future work life. Those being Science, really understanding what makes a good quality pet feed and the chemistry behind it, but also understanding what really makes the numbers work in a business through Maths. These things are really relevant on a day-to-day basis for my role.
I love animals and to be able to manufacture a product that is naturally healthy, and going to benefit their lives, is incredibly rewarding for me.
Running the business whilst in school was really challenging, but also incredibly rewarding as well.
- Callum became a businessman as a teenager, selling eggs and chickens from his home
- From humble beginnings, he expanded into producing dog food with a high nutritional value, inspired by his own beloved dog
- Callum studied Science and Maths at school which help him with making the food and calculating costs.
What to expect if you want to be a business owner
The salary and working hours when you own a business can vary enormously but what's most important is that you work hard and love what you do.
Working for yourself looks different for each person and each business, but in general it means you:
- run your own business and are responsible for its success
- can decide how, when and where you do your work
- charge an agreed, fixed price for your work
- sell goods or services to make a profit
- can hire people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you.
You can be both employed and self-employed at the same time. You can work for your employer during the day, for example, and run your own business in the evenings and at weekends. It’s important to contact HMRC for advice if you’re not sure if you’re self-employed.
You can get help with setting up or developing your business, through the government’s business support services, for example, for advice about tax or about how to find funding to start your business.
This information is a guide (source: GOV.UK).
For careers advice in all parts of the UK visit: National Careers Service (England), nidirect (Northern Ireland), My World of Work (Scotland) and Careers Wales (Wales).
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